Information processing device, information processing method, and program recording medium

ABSTRACT

In order to extract a feature suitable for comparison, the information processing device according to the present invention comprises: a prediction unit which, on the basis of the positional relationship between a plurality of objects detected and tracked in an input video and on the basis of the overlap between the plurality of objects, predicts the qualities of features extracted from the objects; a selection unit which selects, from among the plurality of objects, only those objects or that object for which the qualities of features predicted by the prediction unit satisfy a prescribed condition; and a feature extraction unit which extracts features from the objects or the object selected by the selection unit.

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.17/601,747 filed on Oct. 6, 2021, which is a National Stage Entry ofPCT/JP2019/017560 filed on Apr. 25, 2019, the contents of all of whichare incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an information processing device, aninformation processing method, and an information processing program.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, a method of detecting an object (body) such as a personor a car using a camera and extracting features have been proposed.Here, the object refers to an object such as a person, a car, or ananimal. The features used to match objects detected between differentcameras or to search for the same or similar objects from previouslycaptured and stored videos.

The features extracted from the object vary. In recent years, withprogress of deep learning technology, features extracted on the basis ofdeep learning are increasingly used. The features extracted on the basisof the deep learning contribute to highly accurate matching. On theother hand, in many cases, the features extracted on the basis of thedeep learning take time for extraction processing. Therefore, in a casewhere there are many objects to be extraction targets of featuressimultaneously appearing in the image, the time required for the featureextraction cannot be ignored. In particular, in a case where processingis performed on each frame of a video under a situation whereconstraints of calculation resources are severe, processing in real timebecomes difficult.

In view of this point, conventionally, there has been proposed a methodof selecting an object and extracting the features from only theselected object, instead of extracting the features from all objectsappearing in an image.

PTL 1 discloses a method for extracting features of a person. In themethod of PTL 1, which person detected in the image the features are tobe extracted from is determined with priority according to the size onthe basis of the size of the person in the image and the past featureextraction frequency. PTL 1 describes a method of providing acomprehensive selection means for selecting a person from whom featuresare to be extracted by a random number, alternately performing priorityprocessing and comprehensive processing, and selecting a person toextract features. Further, PTL 1 describes that an orientation of aperson is considered when selecting the person from whom the featuresare extracted.

In a method disclosed in PTL 2, in a case of installation of a normalsurveillance camera that captures an image from obliquely above, a lowerpart of the image is closer to the camera and a person appears large,and thus it is expected that movement of the person in the imageincreases therein. PTL 2 discloses a method of increasing the frequencyof extracting the features of a person toward the lower part of theimage. PTL 2 describes that, in consideration of the magnitude of motionof a person, the frequency of feature extraction is increased as themotion of the person is larger.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

[PTL 1] WO 2017/006749

[PTL 2] WO 2014/045479

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

However, since the technique described in PTL 1 considers only the sizeof a person and the feature extraction frequency, there is a possibilitythat the feature unsuitable for matching is extracted. In the techniquedescribed in PTL 2, since only the position of a person in the image isconsidered, there is a possibility that the feature unsuitable formatching is extracted.

An object of the present invention is to provide an informationprocessing device, an information processing method, and an informationprocessing program capable of extracting features suitable for matching.

Solution to Problem

An information processing device according to the present inventionincludes a prediction means for predicting, based on a positionalrelationship between a plurality of objects detected and tracked in aninput video and on an overlap between the plurality of objects,qualities of features to be extracted from the objects, a selectionmeans for selecting, from among the plurality of objects, only objectsor an object for which the qualities of features predicted by theprediction means satisfy a predetermined condition, and a featureextraction means for extracting features from the object selected by theselection means.

An information processing method according to the present inventionincludes predicting, based on a positional relationship between aplurality of objects detected and tracked in an input video and on anoverlap between the plurality of objects, qualities of features to beextracted from the objects, selecting, from among the plurality ofobjects, only objects or an object for which the qualities of featuressatisfy a predetermined condition, and extracting features from theselected object.

An information processing program according to the present inventioncauses a computer to execute a prediction processing of predicting,based on a positional relationship between a plurality of objectsdetected and tracked in an input video and on an overlap between theplurality of objects, qualities of features to be extracted from theobjects, a selection processing of selecting, from among the pluralityof objects, only objects or an object for which the qualities offeatures predicted by the prediction processing satisfy a predeterminedcondition, and a feature extraction processing of extracting featuresfrom the object selected by the selection processing.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the present invention, it is possible to extract featuressuitable for matching.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a first example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the first example embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a second example embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used whencalculating a quality index.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used whencalculating a quality index.

FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used whencalculating a quality index.

FIG. 4D is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used whencalculating a quality index.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of region division of aperson in calculation of an occlusion ratio.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the second exampleembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a third example embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a variationprediction unit according to the third example embodiment.

FIG. 9A is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used when avariation index is calculated.

FIG. 9B is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used at thetime of calculating a variation index.

FIG. 9C is a diagram illustrating an example of a function used at atime of calculating a variation index.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the third example embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a fourth example embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the fourth exampleembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a fifth example embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the fifth example embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a sixth example embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the sixth example embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device according to a seventh example embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating processing operation of theinformation processing device according to the seventh exampleembodiment.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram illustrating an example of hardwareconstituting each unit of each example embodiment of the presentinvention.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENT First Example Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 100 according to the present example embodiment.

The information processing device 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes aprediction unit 101, a selection unit 102, and a feature extraction unit103.

The prediction unit 101 predicts, on the basis of a positionalrelationship between a plurality of objects detected and tracked in aninput video and an overlap between the plurality of objects, qualitiesof features to be extracted from the objects.

The selection unit 102 selects, from among the plurality of objects,only objects or an object for which the qualities of the featurespredicted by the prediction unit 101 satisfies a predeterminedcondition.

The feature extraction unit 103 extracts the features from the objectselected by the selection unit 102.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 100 according to the first exampleembodiment.

In step S102, the prediction unit 101 predicts, on the basis of apositional relationship between a plurality of objects detected andtracked in an input video and an overlap between the plurality ofobjects, qualities of features to be extracted from the objects.

In step S104, the selection unit 102 selects only objects or an objectfor which the qualities of the features predicted by the prediction unit101 in step S102 satisfies a predetermined condition from among theplurality of objects.

In step S106, the feature extraction unit 103 extracts the features fromthe object selected by the selection unit 102 in step S104. Afterextracting the features, the information processing device 100 ends theprocessing.

As described above, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching. The information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment selects objects or an object to be subjected tofeature extraction even in a situation where a large number of objectsare shown in an image, and can achieve extraction of the features thatenable highly accurate matching of the objects as a whole whilesuppressing the cost required for the feature extraction processing.

Second Example Embodiment

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 200 according to the present example embodiment.

The information processing device 200 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes avideo acquisition unit 201, a detection unit 202, a tracking unit 203, aprediction unit 210, a selection unit 207, and a feature extraction unit208.

The prediction unit 210 includes a positional relationship analysis unit204, a quality prediction unit 205, and an environmental factor storageunit 206.

The video acquisition unit 201 acquires a video captured by an imagingdevice such as one or more cameras (not illustrated). The imaging devicecaptures a video of an area or an object to be a surveillance target.Here, the imaging device may be any device as long as the device cancapture a video. For example, the imaging device is a fixed surveillancecamera, a web camera, a camera attached to a mobile body such as anunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or a vehicle, a body-worn camera attachedto a police officer or a security guard, or a video camera captured bythe user.

The video acquisition unit 201 outputs the acquired video as a videosequence to the detection unit 202, the tracking unit 203, and thefeature extraction unit 208.

The detection unit 202 detects an object from the video output by thevideo acquisition unit 201, and outputs a detection result as detectionresult information. When the object is a person, the detection unit 202detects a person region using a detector that has learned image featuresof the person. For example, the detection unit 202 may use a detectorthat detects on the basis of histograms of oriented gradients (HOG)features or a detector that directly detects from an image using aconvolutional neural network (CNN). Alternatively, the detection unit202 may detect the person using a detector in which a partial region(for example, the head or the like) of the person is learned instead ofthe entire person. For example, the detection unit 202 specifies theperson region by detecting the head position and the foot position usinga detector that has learned the head and the feet. For example, thedetection unit 202 may be configured to obtain the person region bycombining silhouette information (information of a region having adifference from a background model) obtained by the backgrounddifference and the head detection information. For example, when theobject is a car, the detection unit 202 detects the vehicle using adetector that has learned image features of the vehicle. In a case wherethe object is a specific object other than a person or a vehicle, as thedetection unit 202, it is only required to construct and use a detectorthat has learned image features of the specific object.

The detection unit 202 generates detection result information frominformation of the detected object. The detection result informationincludes information for specifying a frame such as time information ora frame number of the frame and information of the detected object. Theinformation of the object includes a detection position and a size ofthe object. The detection unit 202 may represent the detection positionof the object by a position on the image, or may represent the detectionposition by a position converted into real world coordinates by using aparameter representing the position or pose of the camera obtained bycamera calibration. For example, in a case where the detection positionof the object is represented by a position on the image, the detectionunit 202 represents the detection position by coordinates of vertices ofa rectangle surrounding the object (for example, upper left and lowerright vertices). The detection unit 202 may represent the detectionposition of the object by one vertex and the width and height of arectangle. In a case where a plurality of objects is detected, thedetection result information includes information of the plurality ofobjects detected in the generated detection result information, andincludes an identifier for distinguishing the detection objects in thesame frame. The identifier is ID information allocated to distinguish aplurality of objects detected in the same frame, and is different froman identifier allocated to the tracking target object.

The detection unit 202 outputs detection result information to thetracking unit 203, the quality prediction unit 205, and the featureextraction unit 208.

The tracking unit 203 performs tracking processing called tracking bydetection on the basis of the detection result information. That is, thetracking unit 203 obtains that each tracking target object included inthe information of tracking result of the objects up to the previoustime is associated with which detection object included in the detectionresult information of the current time, and updates the tracking result.The tracking unit 203 may predict the position of the tracking targetobject by a Kalman filter or a particle filter and associate theposition with the detection object at the current time.

In a case where the tracking target object and the detection object areassociated with each other, the tracking unit 203 updates theinformation of the tracking target object by using the information ofthe associated detection object and the image at the time. In a casewhere the detection object cannot be associated with any tracking targetobject, there is a high possibility that the detection object is a newlyappeared object, and thus the tracking unit 203 newly generates atracking target object corresponding to the detection object and addsthe tracking target object to the object tracking result.

In a case where the tracking target object cannot be associated with anydetection object, the tracking unit 203 determines that the trackingtarget object has disappeared due to, for example, the fact that thetracking target object has gone out of the image. Thus, the trackingunit 203 deletes the tracking target object from the tracking result.However, the tracking unit 203 may delete the tracking target objectafter non-correspondence continues several times, instead of deleting itby one non-correspondence. For example, in the process of deleting thetracking target object from the tracking result, the tracking unit 203may use a likelihood indicating a predetermined certainty of thetracking target object. In this case, the tracking unit 203 increasesthe likelihood in a case where association with the detection object issucceeded, or decreases the likelihood in a case where association isfailed, from the time when the tracking target object has been newlygenerated. The tracking unit 203 deletes the tracking target object fromthe tracking result when the likelihood falls below a certain value. Inthe calculation of the likelihood, the tracking unit 203 may considernot only information indicating whether association with the detectionresult has been succeeded, but also the certainty at the time ofassociation. The tracking unit 203 generates tracking result informationat the current time.

The tracking result information includes the position and size of theobject on the image, an identifier given for each tracking targetobject, and an identifier of the associated detection object. Thetracking result information includes information indicating that thedetection object is not associated when the detection object has notbeen associated. The tracking unit 203 uses any method for a descriptionmethod of the position information, and indicates position informationby, for example, circumscribed rectangle information of the trackingobject. In a case where the position information is represented by aposition on the image, the tracking unit 203 may represent the positioninformation by coordinates of vertices of a rectangle surrounding theobject (for example, upper left and lower right vertices). The trackingunit 203 may represent the position information with information of onevertex and a width and a height of the rectangle. The tracking unit 203may convert coordinates on the image into coordinates on the real spaceand output the position information. For example, the tracking unit 203obtains coordinates of one point in the tracking object region, andrepresents size information with relative information based on thepoint.

The tracking unit 203 outputs the generated tracking result informationto the positional relationship analysis unit 204 and the qualityprediction unit 205.

The positional relationship analysis unit 204 compares the positioninformation of each object included in the input tracking resultinformation, and analyzes the positional relationship between trackingtarget objects. Specifically, the positional relationship analysis unit204 determines whether the objects overlap each other and, when theobjects overlap, determines which object is on a near side, andgenerates the object positional relationship information. For example,the positional relationship analysis unit 204 determines whether thereis an overlap between circumscribed rectangles of the tracking targetobjects as the determination of overlap. At this time, the positionalrelationship analysis unit 204 may calculate not only whether there isan overlap but also an overlap ratio indicating a degree of overlap. Indetermining whether the object is on the near side, the positionalrelationship analysis unit 204 determines that the object appearingcloser to a lower side is on the near side in a case of the angle ofview of the typical surveillance camera that captures an image fromobliquely above. Thus, in a case where the overlap is determined, thepositional relationship analysis unit 204 determines that the objectpositioned on a lowest side is the object on the near side from thecircumscribed rectangle on the image and the position information, anddetermines that the other object is hidden. The positional relationshipanalysis unit 204 may convert the position information of the objectinto real world coordinates and determine the object closest to thecamera as the object on the near side. The positional relationshipanalysis unit 204 may determine the overlap for each part of the objectinstead of the entire object. For example, the positional relationshipanalysis unit 204 may divide the circumscribed rectangle of the objectinto a plurality of regions and determine the overlap for each of thedivided regions. The positional relationship analysis unit 204 maycalculate an overlap ratio for each of the divided regions.

The positional relationship analysis unit 204 outputs the generatedobject positional relationship information to the quality predictionunit 205.

The detection result information, the tracking result information, andthe object positional relationship information at the current time areinput to the quality prediction unit 205. The quality prediction unit205 calculates a quality index which is an index used for determiningwhich object of the tracking target objects is subjected to the featureextraction processing. The quality prediction unit 205 obtains thequality index on the basis of the input tracking result information,detection result information, object positional relationshipinformation, and the environmental factor information stored in theenvironmental factor storage unit 206, and outputs the quality index tothe selection unit 207.

The quality index is an index for predicting the qualities of thefeatures to be extracted before the features are extracted. The qualityindex is an index that takes a high value when it is predicted thathigh-quality features are extracted from the object, and takes a lowvalue otherwise. The value of the quality index can be in any range.Hereinafter, the quality index takes a value in an interval of [0, 1].

The quality prediction unit 205 refers to the object positionalrelationship information for each tracking target object included in thetracking result information and determines whether occlusion due tooverlap with another object has occurred. In a case where the occlusionhas occurred, the quality prediction unit 205 predicts that thequalities of the features decrease because part or all of an imageregion to be subjected to the feature extraction no longer belong to theobject, and the features extracted from this region have valuesdifferent from the original features. Because the degree of the decreasevaries depending on the level of occlusion (hereinafter referred to asthe degree of occlusion), the quality index is defined to decreaseaccording to the degree of occlusion. The quality prediction unit 205may set the degree of occlusion as a ratio (occlusion ratio) of a regionhidden by the object on the near side in the object region. Assumingthat the degree of occlusion is r_(Occ) and the quality index based onthe degree of occlusion is q_(Occ), the quality prediction unit 205calculates the quality index q_(Occ) using Equation 1.

q _(Occ) =f _(Occ)(r _(Occ))  [Equation 1]

Here, f_(Occ)(r_(Occ)) is a monotonically non-increasing function having[0, 1] as a value range, and is expressed as in FIG. 4A, for example.The quality prediction unit 205 uses, for example, this functionobtained from the relationship between the degree of occlusion and thematching accuracy as f_(Occ)(r_(Occ)).

The quality prediction unit 205 may calculate the degree of occlusionnot by using the occlusion ratio of the entire object region but byconsidering which portion is occluded in the object region. For example,in a case where the object is a person, if a region close to the feet ishidden, the influence on the matching accuracy is small, but if a regionclose to the head region is hidden, the influence of the matchingaccuracy may be large. Thus, in a case where the degree of influence onthe matching differs depending on an occluded part, the qualityprediction unit 205 may calculate the occlusion ratio for each part andcalculate the degree of occlusion by weighted addition of the occlusionratios. For example, in a case where the object is a person, the qualityprediction unit 205 divides the person into a plurality of regions R1,R2, . . . , RM (in FIG. 5 , corresponding to the case of M=5) in thevertical direction by horizontal lines as illustrated in FIG. 5 ,calculates the occlusion ratio for each region, and calculates thedegree of occlusion by weighted addition as represented in Equation 2.By calculating the degree of occlusion by performing weighted addition,the quality prediction unit 205 can calculate the quality index in whicha part having a large influence on the matching accuracy is intensivelyconsidered.

$\begin{matrix}{r_{0{cc}} \equiv {\sum\limits_{m = 1}^{M}{w_{m}r_{m}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}2} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Here, r_(m) and w_(m) are the occlusion ratio and the weighting factor,respectively, for the region R_(m). The weighting coefficient is acoefficient that takes a larger value in a region having a largerinfluence on matching, and is normalized so that the sum becomes one.The quality prediction unit 205 can calculate a quality index based onthe degree of occlusion using the degree of occlusion calculated byweighting on each part of the object.

The quality prediction unit 205 also calculates the quality index byother factors. As the size of the detection object is larger, even finefeatures of the object can be extracted, and thus, in general, thequalities of the features are higher as the size (resolution) of theobject is larger. Thus, the quality prediction unit 205 obtains thevalue of the quality index q_(Res) based on the resolution by Equation 3using the size s of the object region (for example, the area of theregion, the width and height of the region, and the like) obtained froman object detection result.

q _(Res) =f _(Res)(s)  [Equation 3]

Here, f_(Res)(s) is a monotonically non-decreasing function having [0,1] as a value range, and is expressed as in FIG. 4B, for example. Thequality prediction unit 205 uses, for example, this function obtainedfrom the relationship between the size s and the matching accuracy asf_(Res)(s).

In a case where motion of the object on the image is large, there is ahigh possibility that a fine pattern on an object surface (for example,a pattern of clothes in a case where the object is a person) cannot becorrectly extracted due to the influence of a motion blur. Therefore,the qualities of the features decrease as the motion of the object onthe image increases. Assuming that the amount of motion of the object onthe image is v, the quality prediction unit 205 obtains a value of thequality index q_(Mot) based on the motion by Equation 4.

q _(Mot) =f _(Mot)(v)  [Equation 4]

Here, f_(Mot)(v) is a monotonically non-increasing function having [0,1] as a value range, and is expressed as in FIG. 4C, for example. Thequality prediction unit 205 uses, for example, this function obtainedfrom the relationship between the amount of motion v on the image andthe matching accuracy as f_(Mot)(v). The quality prediction unit 205 canobtain the amount of motion v from the movement history of the trackingtarget object. For example, the quality prediction unit 205 stores theposition of the object at the immediately before (or a certain number oftimes before), and obtains the amount of motion v on the image bycalculating the difference from the position at the current time whenthe object tracking result is input.

In a case where a posture or orientation of the object is greatlydeviated from a posture or orientation expected in the featureextraction, the extracted feature may be deviated from the assumption.Thus, it is considered that the qualities of the features decrease asthe deviation from the expected posture and orientation increases withrespect to the posture and orientation of the object. For example, in acase where the object is a person, when the posture expected in theextraction of the features is an upright posture, the deviation from theexpected posture increases when the person squats or bends. The valuerepresenting the degree of this deviation is represented by a posturechange degree r_(Pos), which is an index in which the value increases asthe deviation from the expected posture increases. The qualityprediction unit 205 obtains a value of the quality index q_(Pos) basedon the posture and orientation by Equation 5.

q _(Pos) =f _(Pos)(r _(Pos))  [Equation 5]

Here, f_(Pos)(r_(Pos)) is a monotonically non-increasing function having[0, 1] as a value range, and is expressed as in FIG. 4D, for example.The quality prediction unit 205 uses, for example, this functionobtained from the relationship between the posture change degree r_(Pos)and the matching accuracy as f_(Pos)(r_(Pos)).

The posture change degree r_(Pos) is defined by, for example, how muchan aspect ratio of an object detection rectangle deviates from an aspectratio of an object circumscribed rectangle in a case of an expectedposture. For example, the quality prediction unit 205 obtains anabsolute value of a difference between the aspect ratio of the detectionrectangle and the aspect ratio of the object circumscribed rectanglewith respect to the expected posture, and sets the value as the posturechange degree r_(Pos). In a case where calibration information can beused for the video from the fixed camera, the quality prediction unit205 can obtain the size of the object in the real space from the size ofa rectangle of the image. For example, the quality prediction unit 205obtains the size (for example, in a case of a person, the height of theperson) of the object in the real space from the tracking result of theobject, and detects a posture variation by checking time-series changesthereof. The quality prediction unit 205 may calculate the posturechange degree according to the degree of change in size in the realspace.

The quality prediction unit 205 may consider the orientation of theobject. There are various methods for obtaining the orientation of theobject in the quality prediction unit 205. For example, the qualityprediction unit 205 specifies a moving direction of the object from thehistory of the position of the tracking result on the assumption thatthe moving direction and the orientation of the object match, andestimates the orientation. The quality prediction unit 205 may calculatethe posture change degree by the magnitude of the deviation between theestimated orientation and the expected orientation (for example, thefront or the like) of the feature extraction.

The environmental factor storage unit 206 stores a value of the qualityindex with respect to a decrease in qualities of the features caused bythe environmental factor. For example, the environmental factor storageunit 206 stores, as an environmental factor that affects the qualitiesof the features, a quality index related to occlusion caused by anobstacle (a shelf, a desk, or the like) arranged in the environment,deterioration due to inappropriate lighting or sunshine conditions,deterioration due to a blur caused by out-of-focus of the camera, andthe like. In a case where the imaging device is a fixed camera, theenvironmental factor storage unit 206 stores the imaging device on theassumption that these deterioration factors occur at specific locationson the image. The environmental factor storage unit 206 stores the valueof the quality index in which the degree of quality degradationoccurring when the object comes to each position on the image isestimated in association with the position. The environmental factorstorage unit 206 stores the value of the quality index based on theenvironmental factor obtained for each coordinate (x, y) on the image,which is represented in Equation 6.

q _(Env) =f _(Env)(x,y)  [Equation 6]

Here, f_(Env)(x, y) is a function having [0, 1] as a value range. Here,x and y are position coordinates of a reference point of the object, andfor example, center coordinates of a grounding point of the object areused. The value of the function f_(Env)(x, y) is determined on the basisof a result of obtaining how much the matching accuracy is deterioratedby an environmental factor occurring when the object comes to theposition (x, y) on the image.

Although it is not an environmental factor, in a peripheral region ofthe image of the camera, a part of the object is outside the image, anda situation equivalent to that in which a part is occluded occurs. Thequality prediction unit 205 and the environmental factor storage unit206 may use a peripheral region of the image as an environmental factor,similarly to occlusion by an obstacle.

Among the above-described factors that affect the qualities of thefeatures, the resolution may be treated as an environmental factor.Therefore, the quality prediction unit 205 and the environmental factorstorage unit 206 may use the quality index based on the resolution asthe quality index based on the environmental factor.

The above-described position information (x, y) may be real worldcoordinates or values obtained by converting the real world coordinatesinto coordinates of a map image, instead of on the image. In this case,the quality index q_(Env) is obtained by Equation 6 after converting theposition information of the object into the corresponding coordinatesystem.

The quality index based on the environmental factor may change dependenton the time of day due to differences in lighting and sunshineconditions between day and night. For example, the environmental factorstorage unit 206 stores the value of the quality index for each timeperiod. The quality prediction unit 205 may switch and use the qualityindex q_(Env) according to the time of day of the video to be processed.The quality prediction unit 205 may use the value of the quality indexby interpolation from the values of the quality index in the timeperiods before and after a transition under a situation where atransition of the environmental conditions occurs.

The quality prediction unit 205 calculates the overall quality indexfrom the quality index for each factor. Specifically, the qualityprediction unit 205 obtains the position (x, y) of the object at thecurrent time from the position information of the tracking target objectincluded in the object tracking result, and obtains the value of thequality index q_(Env) based on the environmental factor at the positionfrom the environmental factor storage unit 206. A function g₁representing the relationship between the quality index and the overallquality index Q for each factor is defined as in Equation 7. The qualityprediction unit 205 obtains the overall quality index Q by Equation 7.

Q=g ₁(q _(Occ) ,q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos) ,q _(Env))  [Equation 7]

As the function of Equation 7, for example, the function represented inEquation 8 is used.

g ₁(q _(Occ) ,q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos) ,q _(Env))=q _(Occ) q _(Res)q _(Mot) q _(Pos) q _(Env)  [Equation 8]

The quality prediction unit 205 can predict a decrease in qualities ofthe features that occurs on the basis of occlusion between objects orresolution, motion, posture, and environment, and can appropriatelyselect an object from which the features are to be extracted.

Although various factors for calculating the overall quality index havebeen described so far, the quality prediction unit 205 does not need touse all the quality indexes, and may use only some of the qualityindexes. For example, the quality prediction unit 205 calculates thequality index according to Equations 7 and 8 with the value of thequality index for a factor that is not used being one.

In the present example embodiment, the environmental factor storage unit206 may not need to be provided. In this case, the quality predictionunit 205 calculates the overall quality index Q using Equation 9including a function g₂ representing the relationship between thequality index and the overall quality index Q for each factor.

Q=g ₂(q _(Occ) ,q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos))  [Equation 9]

As the function of Equation 9, for example, the function represented inEquation 10 is used.

g ₂(q _(Occ) ,q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos))=q _(Occ) q _(Res) q _(Mot) q_(Pos)  [Equation 10]

The quality prediction unit 205 calculates a quality index for eachtracking target object included in the object tracking result. Thequality prediction unit 205 outputs the calculated quality index inassociation with information of the identifier of the tracking targetobject and the identifier of the detection object associated therewith.

The quality prediction unit 205 may not need to consider all the qualityindexes in Equation 9, and may use only a part thereof. For example, thequality prediction unit 205 calculates the quality index according toEquations 9 and 10 with the value of the quality index for a factor thatis not used being one.

As described above, the quality prediction unit 205 can predict that thequalities of the features decrease depending on occlusion betweenobjects or resolution, motion, and posture. By using only a part of thequality indexes, the quality prediction unit 205 can calculate a qualityindex in which only indexes suitable for a scene to be adapted isconsidered from among occlusion between objects or resolution, motion,posture, and environmental factor. In this case, the quality predictionunit 205 can perform only processing suitable for each scene, and thuscalculation resources can be efficiently used.

The selection unit 207 selects the object from which the features are tobe extracted on the basis of the quality index output from the qualityprediction unit 205, and outputs selected object information. Theselection unit 207 selects the tracking target object having a largeinput value of the quality index. For example, the selection unit 207selects one in which the value of the quality index is larger than acertain value. The selection unit 207 may select a certain number oftracking target objects (all if the number of objects is smaller thanthe certain number) from the largest one when sorting is performed bythe value of the quality index. The selection unit 207 may select anobject by combining both criteria (select a certain number from thelargest among ones whose values of the quality indexes are equal to ormore than a certain value).

The selection unit 207 combines the identifier of the selected trackingtarget object with the identifier of the detection object associatedtherewith, and outputs the combined identifiers as selected objectinformation.

The feature extraction unit 208 extracts an object feature from theimage on the basis of the selected object information and the detectionresult information. The feature extraction unit 208 obtains the positioninformation of the detection object from the detection resultinformation by the identifier of the detection object associated withthe identifier of the tracking object included in the selected objectinformation. The feature extraction unit 208 extracts the features ofthe corresponding image region as the object features of the identifierof the tracking object. The features to be extracted may be any featurethat can be used to identify an object. For example, the features to beextracted are visual features representing the color, shape, pattern,and the like of the object. The features to be extracted may be ahistogram of color or luminance gradient feature, a local feature suchas scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) or speeded-up robustfeatures (SURF), features describing a pattern such as a Gabor wavelet,or the like. The features to be extracted may be features for objectidentification obtained by deep learning.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 200 according to the second exampleembodiment.

In step S202, the video acquisition unit 201 acquires a video.

In step S204, the detection unit 202 detects an object from the videoacquired in step S202 and generates the detection result information.

In step S206, the tracking unit 203 tracks the object from the videoacquired in step S202 on the basis of the detection result informationgenerated in step S204, and generates the tracking result information.

In step S208, the positional relationship analysis unit 204 analyzes thepositional relationship of the object on the basis of the trackingresult information generated in step S206, and generates the positionalrelationship information.

In step S210, the quality prediction unit 205 predicts the qualities ofthe features to be extracted from the object on the basis of thedetection result information generated in step S204, the tracking resultinformation generated in step S206, and the positional relationshipinformation generated in step S208. When predicting the qualities of thefeatures, the quality prediction unit 205 may refer to the quality indexbased on the environmental factor stored in the environmental factorstorage unit 206.

In step S212, the selection unit 207 selects the object from which thefeatures are to be extracted on the basis of the features predicted instep S210.

In step S214, the feature extraction unit 208 extracts the features ofthe object selected in step S212. After extracting the features, theinformation processing device 100 ends the processing.

As described above, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching. In a case where the quality index based on the degree ofocclusion is used, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching in consideration of overlap between persons or occlusion causedby another obstacle. In a case where the quality index based on theresolution is used, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching in consideration of the size of a person on the image. In acase where the quality index based on the motion is used, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can extract the features suitable for matching inconsideration of the possibility of occurrence of a motion blur. In acase where the quality index based on the posture and orientation isused, the information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can extract the features suitable for matching inconsideration of how much the posture and orientation of the objectdeviate from the expected posture and orientation. In a case where thequality index based on the environmental factor is used, the informationprocessing device according to the present example embodiment canappropriately predict a decrease in the qualities of the features evenin a case where a fixed quality deterioration occurs when the objectcomes to a particular position. The information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment switches the quality indexbased on the environmental factor according to the time of day, therebybeing capable of appropriately coping with a case where the qualities ofthe features to be extracted changes with time. Therefore, in a casewhere the quality index based on the environmental factor is used, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can extract features suitable for matching in considerationof a deterioration factor based on a blur, an illumination condition, orthe like.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can select any quality index to be used, and thus can selectan object to be subjected to feature extraction in consideration of onlyan index suitable for each scene from among occlusion between objects orresolution, motion, posture, and environmental factor. In this case, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can perform only processing suitable for each scene, and thuscan select an object from which features are to be extracted whileefficiently using calculation resources.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can appropriately select an object to be subjected to featureextraction even in a situation where a large number of objects are shownin the image, and can achieve extraction of the features that enablehighly accurate matching of objects as a whole while suppressing thecost required for the feature extraction processing. In particular, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can appropriately select the object from which the feature isto be extracted even when an overlap occurs between objects due to alarge number of objects.

Third Example Embodiment

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 300 according to the present example embodiment.

Among the components of the information processing device 300,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 200 of the second example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 3 , and detaileddescription thereof will be omitted.

The information processing device 300 illustrated in FIG. 7 includes avideo acquisition unit 201, a detection unit 202, a tracking unit 203, aprediction unit 310, a selection unit 307, and a feature extraction unit208.

The prediction unit 310 includes a positional relationship analysis unit204, a quality prediction unit 205, an environmental factor storage unit206, and a variation prediction unit 309.

The video acquisition unit 201, the detection unit 202, the trackingunit 203, the positional relationship analysis unit 204, the qualityprediction unit 205, the environmental factor storage unit 206, and thefeature extraction unit 208 are similar to those in the second exampleembodiment.

The variation prediction unit 309 predicts an improvement possibilitythat the variation of the features is improved by extracting thefeatures from the object. Details of the variation prediction unit 309will be described later.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the variationprediction unit 309 according to the present example embodiment.

The variation prediction unit 309 illustrated in FIG. 8 includes avariation index calculation unit 311, an extraction history storage unit312, a tracking history storage unit 313, and an object state changetendency storage unit 314.

The selected object information and tracking result information that areinformation of an object selected by the selection unit 307 at aprevious time are input to the variation prediction unit 309. Thevariation prediction unit 309 calculates a variation index for eachtracking target object included in the tracking result information.

The variation index is an index indicating a possibility of improvingvariation (diversity) of the acquired feature. The features of theextracted object can change depending on the state of the object, andthus it is desirable to use features in various states of the sameobject in order to reduce miss-matching in object matching. No matterhow many times the feature extraction is performed in a situation wherethe state of the object has hardly changed, almost the same feature willonly be acquired repeatedly, and the miss-matching in the objectmatching will not be reduced. Therefore, in the acquisition of thefeatures of the object in time series, it is important to increasevariation of the acquired feature while avoiding redundant acquisitionof the features as much as possible. The variation index is an indexobtained by predicting, before extraction of the features, whether thevariation of the features can be increased by acquiring the features atthe current time in addition to the feature group acquired so far, thatis, whether the variation of the acquired feature can be improved(improvement possibility). It is desirable that the selection unit 307preferentially select an object with a larger variation index. Theselection unit 307 uses the variation index as a criterion for objectselection.

The variation prediction unit 309 outputs the calculated variation indexto the selection unit 307 in association with the identifier of thetracking target object.

The variation index calculation unit 311 calculates and outputs avariation index on the basis of the input tracking result information,the feature extraction history information output from the extractionhistory storage unit 312, the tracking history information output fromthe tracking history storage unit 313, and the object state changetendency information output from the object state change tendencystorage unit 314.

The variation index calculation unit 311 may calculate and output thevariation index only on the basis of the input tracking resultinformation and the feature extraction history information output fromthe extraction history storage unit 312. The variation index calculationunit 311 may calculate and output the variation index only on the basisof the input tracking result information, the feature extraction historyinformation output from the extraction history storage unit 312, and thetracking history information output from the tracking history storageunit 313.

The extraction history storage unit 312 updates and stores the featureextraction history of each object on the basis of the selected objectinformation input from the selection unit 307. The extraction historystorage unit 312 outputs the feature extraction history information tothe variation index calculation unit 311.

The extraction history storage unit 312 stores, for the identifier ofeach tracking target object, information of the time when the object isselected as the object from which the features are to be extracted. Whenthe object selected by the selection unit 307 is input, the extractionhistory storage unit 312 adds information of the time when the object isselected to the identifier of the tracking target object included in theinformation of the object selected by the selection unit 307. Theextraction history storage unit 312 may record information of the numberof times of the feature extraction in the past for the identifier ofeach tracking target object. In this case, the extraction historystorage unit 312 increases the number of times of the feature extractionof the tracking target object included in the selected objectinformation by one.

The variation index calculation unit 311 calculates the variation indexfor each tracking target object included in the input object trackingresult. As described above, in order to improve the miss-matching at thetime of object matching, it is important to increase the variation ofthe features. The increase in the variation of the features depends onthe acquisition history of the features so far. The state of the objectchanges as a certain time elapses after the features are acquired lasttime, and thus the possibility that the features leading to improvementof variation are extracted increases. Assuming that the variation indexis V, when the variation index is calculated only on the basis of theinput tracking result information and the feature extraction historyinformation output from the extraction history storage unit 313, thevariation index calculation unit 311 calculates the variation index Vusing Equation 11.

V=h ₁(t)  [Equation 11]

Here, the function h₁(t) is a monotonically non-decreasing function withrespect to the elapsed time t from the previous feature extraction, andthe value range is [0, 1]. Therefore, the variation index calculationunit 311 uses a function as illustrated in FIG. 9A, for example. In acase where the features have never been extracted, the variation indexcalculation unit 311 sets the previous feature extraction time to t=−∞and sets the value of the variation index to h₁(∞).

In the above-described example, the variation index calculation unit 311simply calculates the variation index using only the elapsed time fromthe previous feature extraction, but the number of times of featureextraction so far may be used. As the number of times of extraction ofthe features increases, the variation of the acquired feature increases.Therefore, the frequency of the feature extraction may be lowered as thenumber of times of the feature extraction increases. The variation indexcalculation unit 311 uses a function in which the value of the variationindex decreases as the number of times of the feature extractionincreases. The variation index calculation unit 311 calculates thevariation index V as a function of the elapsed time t and the number nof times of feature extraction by using Equation 12.

V=h ₂(t,n)  [Equation 12]

Here, the function h₂(t, n) is a function that becomes a monotonicallynon-decreasing function of t when n is fixed and becomes a monotonicallynon-increasing function of n when t is fixed, and the value range is [0,1]. The variation index calculation unit 311 uses, for example, afunction as illustrated in FIG. 9B.

The variation index calculation unit 311 calculates the variation indexV for each tracking target object included in the object trackingresult. The variation index calculation unit 311 outputs the calculatedvariation index in association with the identifier of the trackingtarget object.

The variation index calculation unit 311 can predict the improvementpossibility of the variation of the acquired feature from the featureextraction history and calculate the index for appropriately selectingthe object from which the features are to be extracted.

The tracking history storage unit 313 stores information regarding thetracking result so far for the identifier of each tracking targetobject. Specifically, the tracking history storage unit 313 storesposition information (also including information regarding the size ofthe object, such as information of the circumscribed rectangle of theobject) of the object at each time and information regarding whether itis associated with the detection object. When the tracking resultinformation is input, the tracking history storage unit 313 adds theinformation of each tracking target object included in the trackingresult information to the data of the identifier of the correspondingtracking target object.

For an object continuing to stay at the same place, it is highlypossible that the state does not change much even when time has elapsedfrom the previous feature extraction, and it is highly possible thatonly the features having substantially the same variation as theprevious variation can be obtained even if the feature extraction isperformed. On the other hand, for a moving object, it is highly possiblethat the state is greatly changed even if the elapsed time from theprevious feature extraction is short. Therefore, the variation indexcalculation unit 311 obtains how much the object is moving using thetracking history information, and changes the value of the variationindex according to the obtained movement amount. For example, thevariation index calculation unit 311 reads the position of the object ata certain time before the current time from the tracking history storageunit 313, obtains a difference from the position at the current timeincluded in the tracking result information, and calculates a movementamount d. The variation index calculation unit 311 may obtain themovement amount as a movement amount on the image. The variation indexcalculation unit 311 may convert the movement amount d into the realworld coordinate system and obtain the movement amount as a movementamount in the real world.

When calculating the variation index V only on the basis of the inputtracking result information, the feature extraction history informationoutput from the extraction history storage unit 312, and the trackinghistory information output from the tracking history storage unit 313,the variation index calculation unit 311 calculates the variation indexV using Equation 13. In Equation 13, the elapsed time is t, the numberof times of the feature extraction is n, and the movement amount is d.

V=h ₃(t,n,d)  [Equation 13]

Here, the function h₃ (t, n, d) has [0, 1] as a value range, and is amonotonically non-decreasing function of t when n and d are fixed, is amonotonically non-increasing function of n when t and d are fixed, andis a monotonically non-decreasing function of d when t and n are fixed.The variation index calculation unit 311 uses, for example, a functionas illustrated in FIG. 9C.

The variation index calculation unit 311 uses the tracking resultinformation, and thus acquires information regarding the state of theobject such as the orientation of the object. In a case where thefeatures can change according to the state of the object, by extractingand retaining the features for each state and using the features formatching, miss-matching at the time of object matching are reduced.Therefore, the variation index calculation unit 311 retains a history offeature extraction for each state of the object, and calculates thevariation index according to the state of the object at that time. Thetracking history storage unit 313 also retains information regarding thestate of the object as a tracking result.

The tracking history storage unit 313 sets a category representing thestate of the object to c=1, . . . , C. This category is, for example, acategory related to the orientation of the object such as front, right,back, and left. The variation index calculation unit 311 calculates thevariation index V for each category by using Equation 14.

V=h _(3,c)(t _(c) ,n _(c) ,d _(c))  [Equation 14]

Here, the function h_(3, c) is a function for obtaining the function h₃of Equation 13 for each category. First, the variation index calculationunit 311 estimates which category the current state of the objectcorresponds to on the basis of the tracking result information, andcalculates the variation index using the function of the estimatedcategory. For example, when the category is the orientation, thevariation index calculation unit 311 obtains the moving direction of theobject from the tracking history of the object, and estimates theorientation on the basis of the movement direction. When the orientationcannot be obtained, the variation index calculation unit 311 calculatesthe variation index by providing a category of orientation unknown.

This category does not necessarily depend on the orientation, and may bevarious categories reflecting the state of the object. In a case wherethe category classification is difficult only with the trackinginformation, the tracking history storage unit 313 may perform thecategory classification of the state of the object including otherinformation. The variation index calculation unit 311 outputs thecalculated variation index in association with the identifier of thetracking target object.

The variation index calculation unit 311 can more accurately reflectpresence or absence of a change in the features of the object and thepossibility of variation improvement on the variation index, by using upto presence or absence of movement and the category according to thestate of the object.

The object state change tendency storage unit 314 stores informationindicating a tendency of the state change of the object that can changeaccording to the location in the image. The tendency of the object totake a certain state may vary depending on a place where the objectexists. For example, in a case where the object is a person, a camerainstalled at a corner of a passage and capable of capturing a statewhere the person turns while walking can extract features of the personin various orientations when the person turns at the corner. On theother hand, at other positions, the relationship between the orientationof the person and the orientation of the camera is less likely tochange, and thus, there is a high possibility that a feature only in aspecific orientation is extracted. In a case where the degree of statechange of the object varies depending on the place, the variation indexis efficiently improved by performing the feature extraction morefrequently at a place where the state change is likely to occur, than atother places. The object state change tendency storage unit 314 storesin advance a multiplier α reflecting the likelihood of the state changedefined for each place (x, y), as represented by Equation 15.

α=h _(Loc)(x,y)  [Equation 15]

Here, the function h_(Loc) is a function having a value range of [0, 1],and is a function whose value is larger where the state change of theobject occurs more easily on the image. The variation index calculationunit 311 can calculate, as the overall variation index V, a valueobtained by multiplying, by the multiplier α of Equation 15, thevariation index V that is obtained using the equations from Equation 11to Equation 14. More specifically, the variation index calculation unit311 obtains the position (x, y) of the tracking target object from thetracking result information, reads the value of the multiplier α as theobject state change tendency information on the basis of this positionvalue, and multiplies the value of the variation index V by the value ofthe multiplier α. The variation index calculation unit 311 outputs thecalculated overall variation index in association with the identifier ofthe tracking target object.

The variation index calculation unit 311 can more accurately reflectpresence or absence of the change in the features of the object on thevariation index by considering a tendency of the change in the objectstate according to the place.

Note that although various methods for calculating the variation indexhave been described so far, the method of calculating the variationindex is not limited to the above method. For example, the variationindex calculation unit 311 may calculate and output the variation indexonly on the basis of the tracking result information and the trackinghistory information output from the tracking history storage unit 313.The variation index calculation unit 311 may calculate and output thevariation index only on the basis of the tracking result information andthe object state change tendency information output from the objectstate change tendency storage unit 314.

The selection unit 307 selects the object from which the features are tobe extracted on the basis of the quality index output from the qualityprediction unit 205 and the variation index output from the variationprediction unit 309, and outputs selected object information. Theselection unit 307 also outputs the selected object information to thevariation prediction unit 309 for variation determination at a latertime. The selected object information includes a selection index Icalculated on the basis of the quality index calculated by the qualityprediction unit 205 and the variation index calculated by the variationprediction unit 309. When a function for calculating the selection indexI is F, the selection unit 307 calculates the selection index I by usingEquation 16.

I=F(Q,V)  [Equation 16]

As the function of Equation 16, for example, a function of Equation 17is used.

F(Q,V)=QV  [Equation 17]

The selection unit 307 selects a tracking target object having a largevalue of the selection index I. For example, the selection unit 307selects one in which the value of the selection index is larger than acertain value. The selection unit 307 may select a certain number oftracking target objects (all if the number of objects is smaller thanthe certain number) from the largest one when sorting is performed bythe value of the selection index. The selection unit 307 may select anobject by combining both criteria (for example, a certain number fromthe largest among ones in which values of the selection indexes areequal to or more than a certain value).

The selection unit 307 combines the identifier of the selected trackingtarget object with the identifier of the detection object associatedwith the selected tracking target object, and outputs the combinedidentifier as selected object information. The selected objectinformation is output to the variation prediction unit 309 and used forcalculating the variation index at a later time.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 300 according to the third exampleembodiment.

Steps S202, S204, S206, S208, and S210 are similar to those in thesecond example embodiment.

In step S302, the variation prediction unit 309 predicts the improvementpossibility that the variation of the features is improved on the basisof the tracking result information generated in step S206 and theselected object information fed back from the selection unit 307.

In step S304, the selection unit 307 selects the object from which thefeatures are to be extracted on the basis of the qualities of thefeatures predicted in step S210 and the improvement possibilitypredicted in step S302.

Step S214 is similar to that in the second example embodiment.

As described above, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching. The information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment can suppress the possibility of large variability inthe number of feature extraction times among different persons byconsidering the extraction history of the features. By considering thetracking history of the object, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can extract the featuresuitable for matching by adapting to a case where the object that haspassed through time from the previous feature extraction continues tostay at the same place, a case where the state has greatly changedbecause the object is moving even if the elapsed time from the previousfeature extraction is short, or the like. By considering the statechange tendency of the object, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can reflect presence orabsence of a change in the features due to a change in the object stateaccording to the place on the variation index, and more appropriateobject selection can be performed.

Fourth Example Embodiment

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 400 according to the present example embodiment.

Among the components of the information processing device 400,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 300 of the third example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 7 , and detaileddescription thereof will be omitted.

The information processing device 400 illustrated in FIG. 11 includes avideo acquisition unit 201, a detection unit 202, a tracking unit 203, aprediction unit 410, a selection unit 307, and a feature extraction unit208.

The prediction unit 410 includes a quality prediction unit 405, anenvironmental factor storage unit 206, and a variation prediction unit309.

The video acquisition unit 201, the detection unit 202, the trackingunit 203, the environmental factor storage unit 206, and the featureextraction unit 208 are similar to those in the second exampleembodiment.

The variation prediction unit 309 and the selection unit 307 are similarto those in the third example embodiment.

The detection result information and the tracking result information atthe current time are input to the quality prediction unit 405. Adifference from the quality prediction unit 205 of the second exampleembodiment is that the object positional relationship information is notinput. Therefore, the description overlapping with that of the qualityprediction unit 205 of the second example embodiment will be omitted.

The quality prediction unit 405 obtains the quality index on the basisof the input tracking result information and detection resultinformation, and the environmental factor information stored in theenvironmental factor storage unit 206, and outputs the quality index tothe selection unit 307.

The quality prediction unit 405 calculates the overall quality indexfrom the quality index for each factor. Specifically, the qualityprediction unit 405 obtains the position (x, y) of the object at thecurrent time from the position information of the tracking target objectincluded in the object tracking result, and obtains the value of thequality index q_(Env) based on the environmental factor at the positionfrom the environmental factor storage unit 206. The function g₃represents the relationship between the quality index and the overallquality index Q for each factor, and is defined as in Equation 18. Thequality prediction unit 405 obtains the overall quality index Q byEquation 18.

Q=g ₃(q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos) ,q _(Env))  [Equation 18]

As the function of Equation 18, for example, a function represented inEquation 8 is used.

g ₃(q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos) ,q _(Env))=q _(Res) q _(Mot) q _(Pos) q_(Env)  [Equation 19]

The quality prediction unit 405 can predict a decrease in qualities ofthe features that occurs on the basis of resolution, motion, posture,and environment, and can appropriately select the object from which thefeatures are to be extracted.

The quality prediction unit 405 does not need to use all the qualityindexes, and may use at least one of quality decreases of the featuresthat occur on the basis of the resolution, the motion, the posture, andthe environment. For example, the quality prediction unit 405 calculatesthe quality index according to Equations 18 and 19, assuming that thevalue of the quality index for a factor that is not considered is one.

In the present example embodiment, the environmental factor storage unit206 does not need to be provided. In this case, the quality predictionunit 405 calculates the overall quality index Q by using Equation 20including a function g₄ representing the relationship between thequality index and the overall quality index Q for each factor.

Q=g ₄(q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos))  [Equation 20]

As the function of Equation 20, for example, the function represented inEquation 21 is used.

g ₄(q _(Res) ,q _(Mot) ,q _(Pos))=q _(Res) q _(Mot) q _(Pos)  [Equation21]

The quality prediction unit 405 does not need to use all the qualityindexes in Equation 20, and may use only a part thereof. For example,the quality prediction unit 405 calculates the quality index accordingto Equations 20 and 21, assuming that the value of the quality index fora factor that is not used is one.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 400 according to the fourth exampleembodiment.

Steps S202, S204, and S206 are similar to those in the second exampleembodiment.

In step S402, the quality prediction unit 405 predicts the qualities ofthe features to be extracted from the object on the basis of thedetection result information generated in step S204 and the trackingresult information generated in step S206. When predicting the qualitiesof the features, the quality prediction unit 405 may refer to thequality index based on the environmental factor stored in theenvironmental factor storage unit 206.

Steps S302 and S304 are similar to those in the third exampleembodiment.

Step S214 is similar to that in the second example embodiment.

As described above, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching. The information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment can appropriately determine the necessity ofextraction of the features by simultaneously predicting not only thequalities of the features but also the improvement possibility of thevariation even in a case where the object exists alone. Therefore, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can reduce the calculation cost for extracting the features.

Fifth Example Embodiment

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 500 according to the present example embodiment.

Among the components of the information processing device 500,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 200 of the second example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 3 , and detaileddescription thereof will be omitted.

The information processing device 500 illustrated in FIG. 13 includes avideo acquisition unit 201, a detection unit 202, a tracking unit 203, aprediction unit 510, a selection unit 207, and a feature extraction unit208.

The prediction unit 510 includes an object detection tendency analysisunit 504, a quality prediction unit 505, and an environmental factorstorage unit 206.

The video acquisition unit 201, the detection unit 202, the trackingunit 203, the environmental factor storage unit 206, the selection unit207, and the feature extraction unit 208 are similar to those in thesecond example embodiment.

The object detection tendency analysis unit 504 analyzes the inputdetection result information and obtains detection tendency informationfor each place of the image. The object is occluded in a place wherethere is an obstacle such as a shelf, and there are more cases where theobject is not detected. The object is not detected at all when the wholeis hidden, but may or may not be detected when a part is hidden. Whenthe number of times of detection of the object within a certain fixedtime is counted for each place, the frequency is high in a place wherethere is no obstacle or the like, whereas the frequency of detection ofthe object is low in a place hidden by an obstacle or the like. Theobject detection tendency analysis unit 504 generates frequencyinformation for each place as the detection tendency information.

In a case where the detection unit 202 is a means that detects aplurality of parts of an object, the object detection tendency analysisunit 504 may aggregate the number of times of detection of the parts ofthe object within a certain fixed time for each place. The objectdetection tendency analysis unit 504 may aggregate tendencies ofsimultaneous detection such as whether a plurality of parts issimultaneously detected for each place, and include the tendencies inthe detection tendency information.

For example, in a case where the object is a person and the detectionunit 202 is a detection means that simultaneously detects the head andthe human body of the person, the object detection tendency analysisunit 504 aggregates the detection frequency for each of the head and thehuman body for each place. The object detection tendency analysis unit504 may aggregate the number of times both the head and the human bodyare simultaneously detected for each place. The object detectiontendency analysis unit 504 uses the number of times of simultaneousdetection for determining a tendency of partial occlusion at the place.In a case where the head and the human body are simultaneously detected,the tendency that the human body is often not detected even though thehead is detected is highly possible that the human body is not detectedeven though the person is present. This tendency indicates that there isa high possibility that a region below the head of the human body regionis hidden at the place.

The object detection tendency analysis unit 504 outputs the generateddetection tendency information to the quality prediction unit 505.

The object detection tendency analysis unit 504 can generate thedetection tendency information reflecting the tendency of objectocclusion for each place in detail by determining the detection resultsof the plurality of parts together.

The detection result information, the tracking result information, andthe detection tendency information at the current time are input to thequality prediction unit 505. A difference from the quality predictionunit 405 of the fourth example embodiment is that detection tendencyinformation is input. Therefore, the description overlapping with thequality prediction unit 205 of the second example embodiment and thequality prediction unit 405 of the fourth example embodiment will beomitted.

The quality prediction unit 505 obtains the quality index on the basisof the input tracking result information, detection result information,and detection tendency information, and the environmental factorinformation stored in the environmental factor storage unit 206, andoutputs the quality index to the selection unit 207.

The quality prediction unit 505 uses the detection tendency informationto determine a situation of occlusion of an object by an obstacle.Assuming that the detection frequency of the object at the place (x, y)is Freq(x, y), the quality prediction unit 505 calculates a multiplier βusing Equation 22. The quality prediction unit 505 multiplies thequality index obtained from the detection result information and thetracking result information by the multiplier β to calculate a finalquality index.

β=q _(Loc)(Freq(x,y))  [Equation 22]

Here, the function q_(Loc) is a monotonically non-decreasing functionwith respect to the frequency Freq(x, y). In a case where the frequencyof simultaneous detection of a plurality of parts is included, thequality prediction unit 505 may use a ratio obtained by dividing thefrequency of simultaneous detection by the frequency of the mostdetected part instead of the detection frequency.

The quality prediction unit 505 outputs the calculated quality index tothe selection unit 207.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 500 according to the fifth exampleembodiment.

Steps S202, S204, and S206 are similar to those in the second exampleembodiment.

In step S502, the object detection tendency analysis unit 504 analyzes atendency of each place of object detection and generates the detectiontendency information.

In step S504, the quality prediction unit 505 predicts the qualities ofthe features to be extracted from the object on the basis of thedetection result information generated in step S204, the tracking resultinformation generated in step S206, and the detection tendencyinformation generated in step S502. When predicting the qualities of thefeatures, the quality prediction unit 505 may refer to the quality indexbased on the environmental factor stored in the environmental factorstorage unit 206.

Steps S212 and S214 are similar to those in the second exampleembodiment.

As described above, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching. The information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment can appropriately determine the necessity ofextraction of the features by automatically determining a occlusionoccurrence tendency of the object by place even in a case where theobject exists alone. Therefore, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can reduce the calculationcost for extracting the features.

Sixth Example Embodiment

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 600 according to the present example embodiment.

Among the components of the information processing device 600,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 300 of the third example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 7 , and detaileddescription thereof will be omitted.

Among the components of the information processing device 500,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 500 of the fifth example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 13 , anddetailed description thereof will be omitted.

The information processing device 600 illustrated in FIG. 15 includes avideo acquisition unit 201, a detection unit 202, a tracking unit 203, aprediction unit 610, a selection unit 307, and a feature extraction unit208.

The prediction unit 610 includes an object detection tendency analysisunit 504, a quality prediction unit 505, an environmental factor storageunit 206, and a variation prediction unit 309.

The video acquisition unit 201, the detection unit 202, the trackingunit 203, the environmental factor storage unit 206, and the featureextraction unit 208 are similar to those in the second exampleembodiment.

The selection unit 307 and the variation prediction unit 309 are similarto those of the third example embodiment.

The object detection tendency analysis unit 504 and the qualityprediction unit 505 are similar to those of the fifth exampleembodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 600 according to the sixth exampleembodiment.

Steps S502 and S504 are similar to those in the fifth exampleembodiment.

Steps S302 and S304 are similar to those in the third exampleembodiment.

Step S214 is similar to that in the second example embodiment.

As described above, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can extract the features suitable formatching. The information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment can appropriately determine the necessity ofextraction of the features by automatically determining the occlusionoccurrence tendency of the object by place even in a case where theobject exists alone. The information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can appropriately determine the necessity ofextraction of the features by simultaneously predicting not only thequalities of the features but also the improvement possibility of thevariation. Therefore, the information processing device according to thepresent example embodiment can reduce the calculation cost forextracting the features.

Seventh Example Embodiment

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an informationprocessing device 700 according to the present example embodiment.

Among the components of the information processing device 700,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 300 of the third example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 7 , and detaileddescription thereof will be omitted.

Among the components of the information processing device 700,components that perform the same processing operations as those of theinformation processing device 500 of the fifth example embodiment aredenoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 13 , anddetailed description thereof will be omitted.

The information processing device 700 illustrated in FIG. 17 includes avideo acquisition unit 201, a detection unit 202, a tracking unit 203, aprediction unit 710, a selection unit 307, and a feature extraction unit208.

The prediction unit 710 includes a positional relationship analysis unit204, an object detection tendency analysis unit 504, a qualityprediction unit 705, an environmental factor storage unit 206, and avariation prediction unit 309.

The video acquisition unit 201, the detection unit 202, the trackingunit 203, the positional relationship analysis unit 204, theenvironmental factor storage unit 206, and the feature extraction unit208 are similar to those of the second example embodiment.

The selection unit 307 and the variation prediction unit 309 are similarto those of the third example embodiment.

The object detection tendency analysis unit 504 is similar to that ofthe fifth example embodiment.

The quality prediction unit 705 calculates a quality index by a methodsimilar to that of the quality prediction unit 205, and multiplies thecalculated quality index by the multiplier β similarly to the qualityprediction unit 505, thereby calculating an overall quality index.

The variation prediction unit 309 is similar to that of the thirdexample embodiment.

In the present example embodiment, the variation prediction unit 309 maybe omitted. In that case, the selection unit 307 is replaced with theselection unit 207 of the second example embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing executed by theinformation processing device 700 according to the seventh exampleembodiment.

Steps S202, S204, S206, and S208 are similar to those in the secondexample embodiment.

Step S502 is similar to that in the fifth example embodiment.

In step S702, the quality prediction unit 705 predicts the qualities ofthe features to be extracted from the object on the basis of thedetection result information generated in step S204, the tracking resultinformation generated in step S206, the positional relationshipinformation generated in step S208, and the detection tendencyinformation generated in step S502. When predicting the qualities of thefeatures, the quality prediction unit 705 may refer to the quality indexbased on the environmental factor stored in the environmental factorstorage unit 206.

After step S702 is executed, processing of step S302, step S304, andstep S214 is executed as in the third example embodiment.

In the present example embodiment, step S302 may be omitted. In thatcase, step S204 is executed instead of step S304.

After executing step S214, the information processing device 700 endsthe processing.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can extract the features suitable for matching. In a casewhere the quality index based on the degree of occlusion is used, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can extract the feature s suitable for matching inconsideration of overlap between persons or occlusion caused by anotherobstacle. In a case where the quality index based on the resolution isused, the information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can extract the features suitable for matching inconsideration of the size of a person on the image. In a case where thequality index based on the motion is used, the information processingdevice according to the present example embodiment can extract thefeatures suitable for matching in consideration of the possibility ofoccurrence of a motion blur. In a case where the quality index based onthe posture and orientation is used, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can extract the featuressuitable for matching in consideration of how much the posture andorientation of the object deviate from the expected posture andorientation. In a case where the quality index based on theenvironmental factor is used, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can appropriately predict adecrease in the qualities of the features even in a case where a fixedquality deterioration occurs when the object comes to a particularposition. The information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment switches the quality index based on the environmentalfactor according to the time of day, thereby being capable ofappropriately coping with a case where the qualities of the features tobe extracted changes with time. Therefore, in a case where the qualityindex based on the environmental factor is used, the informationprocessing device according to the present example embodiment canextract features suitable for matching in consideration of adeterioration factor based on a blur, an illumination condition, or thelike.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can select any quality index to be used, and thus can selectan object to be subjected to feature extraction in consideration of onlyindexes suitable for each scene from among occlusion between objects orresolution, motion, posture, and environmental factor. In this case, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can perform only processing suitable for each scene, and thuscan select an object from which features are to be extracted whileefficiently using calculation resources.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can suppress the possibility of large variability in thenumber of feature extraction times among different persons byconsidering the extraction history of the features. By considering thetracking history of the object, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can extract the featuresuitable for matching by adapting to a case where the object that haspassed through time from the previous feature extraction continues tostay at the same place, a case where the state has greatly changedbecause the object is moving even if the elapsed time from the previousfeature extraction is short, or the like. By considering the statechange tendency of the object, the information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can reflect presence orabsence of a change in the features due to a change in the object stateaccording to the place on the variation index, and more appropriateobject selection can be performed.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can appropriately select an object to be subjected to featureextraction even in a situation where a large number of objects are shownin the image, and can achieve extraction of the features that enablehighly accurate matching of the objects as a whole while suppressing thecost required for the feature extraction processing. In particular, theinformation processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can appropriately select the object from which the feature isto be extracted even when an overlap occurs between objects due to alarge number of objects.

The information processing device according to the present exampleembodiment can appropriately determine the necessity of extraction ofthe features by automatically determining the occlusion occurrencetendency of the object by place. The information processing deviceaccording to the present example embodiment can appropriately determinethe necessity of extraction of the features by simultaneously predictingnot only the qualities of the features but also the variation.Therefore, the information processing device according to the presentexample embodiment can reduce the calculation cost for extracting thefeatures.

Configuration Example of Hardware

A hardware configuration of the information processing device accordingto each exemplary example embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed below. Each functional configuration unit of the informationprocessing device in each exemplary example embodiment of the presentinvention may be implemented by hardware (for example, a hard-wiredelectronic circuit or the like) that implements each functionalconfiguration unit, or may be implemented by a combination of hardwareand software (for example, a combination of an electronic circuit and aprogram that controls the electronic circuit or the like). Hereinafter,a case where each functional configuration unit of the informationprocessing device in each example embodiment of the present invention isachieved by a combination of hardware and software will be furtherdescribed.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a computer 1000, a network 1300, and acamera 1500 for achieving the information processing device according toeach example embodiment of the present invention. The computer 1000 isany type of computer. For example, the computer 1000 is a personalcomputer (PC), a server machine, a tablet terminal, a smartphone, or thelike. The computer 1000 may be a dedicated computer designed to achievethe information processing device in each example embodiment of thepresent invention, or may be a general-purpose computer.

The computer 1000 includes a bus 1020, a processor 1040, a memory 1060,a storage device 1080, an input-output interface 1100, and a networkinterface 1120. The bus 1020 is a data transmission path for theprocessor 1040, the memory 1060, the storage device 1080, theinput-output interface 1100, and the network interface 1120 to transmitand receive data to and from each other. However, the method ofconnecting the processor 1040 and the like to each other is not limitedto the bus connection. The processor 1040 is various processors such asa central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or afield-programmable gate array (FPGA). The memory 1060 is a main storagedevice achieved by using a random access memory (RAM) or the like. Thestorage device 1080 is an auxiliary storage device achieved by using ahard disk, a solid state drive (SSD), a memory card, a read only memory(ROM), or the like.

The input-output interface 1100 is an interface for connecting thecomputer 1000 and an input-output device. For example, an input devicesuch as a keyboard and an output device such as a display device areconnected to the input-output interface 1100.

The network interface 1120 is an interface for connecting the computer1000 to the network 1300. The network is, for example, a local areanetwork (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). A method of connecting thenetwork interface 1120 to the network may be a wireless connection or awired connection.

Furthermore, the camera 1500 is connected to the network 1300, and thecomputer 1000 and the camera 1500 can communicate data via the network1300. For example, the video acquisition unit 201 of the informationprocessing device according to each exemplary example embodiment of thepresent invention acquires a video from the camera 1500.

The storage device 1080 stores program modules that achieve respectivemeans of the information processing device in each example embodiment ofthe present invention. The processor 1040 reads and executes the programmodules in the memory 1060, thereby implementing functions correspondingto the program modules.

Some functions of the information processing device in each exampleembodiment of the present invention may be executed on the camera 1500side. That is, a processor, a storage device, and a memory may be storedinside the camera 1500, and all or a part of processing of each means ofthe information processing device in each example embodiment of thepresent invention may be executed using these components. For example,the processing of the video acquisition unit 201, the detection unit202, and the tracking unit 203 may be executed on the camera 1500 side,and other processing may be executed on the computer 1000 side.Alternatively, processing other than the feature extraction unit 208 maybe executed on the camera side, and the feature extraction unit 208 maybe executed on the computer 1000 side.

The video acquisition unit 201 may be a video recording device such as ahard disk recorder that stores videos captured by a camera. In thiscase, the video acquisition unit 201 reads and reproduces a video storedin the video recording device, thereby acquiring the video andtransmitting the video to the computer 1000 via the network 1300. Then,subsequent processing is executed on the computer 1000 side.

The present invention has been described above as an example applied tothe exemplary embodiments described above. However, the technical scopeof the present invention is not limited to the scope described in eachof the above-described embodiments. It is obvious to those of ordinaryskill in the art that various changes or improvements can be made tosuch embodiments. In such a case, a new embodiment to which such achange or improvement is added can also be included in the technicalscope of the present invention. This is apparent from the mattersdescribed in the claims.

The form of the above-described example embodiments may be combined orsome form may be interchanged. The form of the present invention is notlimited only to the above-described example embodiments, and variouschanges may be made without departing from the gist of the presentinvention.

The whole or part of the example embodiments disclosed above can bedescribed as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes.

Supplementary Note 1

An information processing device including:

-   -   a prediction means for predicting, based on a positional        relationship between a plurality of objects detected and tracked        in an input video and on an overlap between the plurality of        objects, qualities of features to be extracted from the objects;    -   a selection means for selecting, from among the plurality of        objects, only objects or an object for which the qualities of        features predicted by the prediction means satisfy a        predetermined condition; and    -   a feature extraction means for extracting features from the        object selected by the selection means.

Supplementary Note 2

The information processing device according to supplementary note 1, inwhich

-   -   the prediction means predicts the qualities of features to be        extracted from the object based on a degree to which the object        is hidden by another object.

Supplementary Note 3

The information processing device according to supplementary note 1 or2, in which

-   -   the prediction means predicts the qualities of features to be        extracted from the object based on at least one of a resolution,        an amount of motion, or a posture and an orientation of the        object or an environmental factor determined according to a        position of the object.

Supplementary Note 4

The information processing device according to any one of supplementarynotes 1 to 3, further including

-   -   a storage means for storing an index indicating how much an        environmental factor determined according to a position of the        object affects prediction of the qualities of features,    -   in which the prediction means predicts the qualities of features        to be extracted from the object based on the index.

Supplementary Note 5

The information processing device according to any one of supplementarynotes 1 to 4, in which

-   -   the prediction means further predicts an improvement possibility        that a variation of the features is improved by extracting the        features from an object, and    -   the selection means selects only objects or an object for which        the improvement possibility predicted by the prediction means        further satisfies a predetermined condition.

Supplementary Note 6

The information processing device according to supplementary note 5, inwhich

-   -   the prediction means predicts the improvement possibility in        such a way that the improvement possibility increases as an        elapsed time from previous feature extraction is larger.

Supplementary Note 7

The information processing device according to supplementary note 5 or6, in which

-   -   the prediction means predicts the improvement possibility in        such a way that the improvement possibility increases as a        number of times of extraction of the features so far is smaller.

Supplementary Note 8

The information processing device according to any one of supplementarynotes 5 to 7, in which

-   -   the prediction means predicts the improvement possibility in        such a way that the improvement possibility increases as a        movement amount of an object is larger.

Supplementary Note 9

The information processing device according to any one of supplementarynotes 5 to 8, in which

-   -   the prediction means predicts the improvement possibility        further based on a category determined according to a state of        an object.

Supplementary Note 10

The information processing device according to any one of supplementarynotes 5 to 9, in which

-   -   the prediction means predicts the improvement possibility        further based on a tendency of a state change of an object        determined according to a position of the object.

Supplementary Note 11

An information processing device including:

-   -   a prediction means for predicting, from objects detected and        tracked in an input video, qualities of features to be extracted        from the objects and an improvement possibility that a variation        of the features is improved by extracting the features from the        objects based on at least one of a resolution, an amount of        motion, or a posture and an orientation of the objects or an        environmental factor determined according to positions of the        objects;    -   a selection means for selecting, from among the objects, only        objects or an object for which the qualities of features and the        improvement possibility predicted by the prediction means        satisfy a predetermined condition; and    -   a feature extraction means for extracting features from the        object selected by the selection means.

Supplementary Note 12

An information processing device including:

-   -   a prediction means for predicting, from objects detected and        tracked in an input video, qualities of features to be extracted        from the objects based on at least one of a resolution, an        amount of motion, or a posture and an orientation of the objects        or an environmental factor determined according to positions of        the objects and a degree of occlusion of the objects depending        on the positions of the objects;    -   a selection means for selecting, from among the objects, only        objects or an object for which the qualities of features        predicted by the prediction means satisfy a predetermined        condition; and    -   a feature extraction means for extracting features from the        object selected by the selection means.

Supplementary Note 13

The information processing device according to supplementary note 12, inwhich

-   -   the prediction means further predicts an improvement possibility        that a variation of the features is improved by extracting the        features from an object, and    -   the selection means selects only objects or an object for which        the improvement possibility predicted by the prediction means        further satisfies a predetermined condition.

Supplementary Note 14

The information processing device according to supplementary note 12 orsupplementary note 13, in which

-   -   the prediction means further predicts qualities of features to        be extracted from the object based on a positional relationship        between a plurality of objects detected and tracked in an input        video and an overlap between the plurality of objects.

Supplementary Note 15

An information processing method including:

-   -   predicting, based on a positional relationship between a        plurality of objects detected and tracked in an input video and        on an overlap between the plurality of objects, qualities of        features to be extracted from the objects;    -   selecting, from among the plurality of objects, only objects or        an object for which the qualities of features satisfy a        predetermined condition; and    -   extracting features from the selected object.

Supplementary Note 16

An information processing method including:

-   -   predicting, from objects detected and tracked in an input video,        qualities of features to be extracted from the objects and an        improvement possibility that a variation of the features is        improved by extracting the features from the objects based on at        least one of a resolution, an amount of motion, or a posture and        an orientation of the objects or an environmental factor        determined according to positions of the objects;    -   selecting, from among the objects, only objects or an object for        which the qualities of features and the improvement possibility        satisfy a predetermined condition; and    -   extracting features from the selected object.

Supplementary Note 17

An information processing method including:

-   -   predicting, from objects detected and tracked in an input video,        qualities of features to be extracted from the objects based on        at least one of a resolution, an amount of motion, or a posture        and an orientation of the objects or an environmental factor        determined according to positions of the objects and a degree of        occlusion of the objects depending on the positions of the        objects;    -   selecting, from among the objects, only objects or an object for        which the qualities of features satisfy a predetermined        condition; and extracting features from the selected object.

Supplementary Note 18

A program recording medium recording an information processing programfor causing a computer to execute:

-   -   a prediction processing of predicting, based on a positional        relationship between a plurality of objects detected and tracked        in an input video and on an overlap between the plurality of        objects, qualities of features to be extracted from the objects;    -   a selection processing of selecting, from among the plurality of        objects, only objects or an object for which the qualities of        features predicted by the prediction processing satisfy a        predetermined condition; and    -   a feature extraction processing of extracting features from the        object selected by the selection processing.

Supplementary Note 19

A program recording medium recording an information processing programfor causing a computer to execute:

-   -   a prediction processing of predicting, from objects detected and        tracked in an input video, qualities of features to be extracted        from the objects and an improvement possibility that a variation        of the features is improved by extracting the features from the        objects based on at least one of a resolution, an amount of        motion, or a posture and an orientation of the objects or an        environmental factor determined according to positions of the        objects;    -   a selection processing of selecting, from among the objects,        only objects or an object for which the qualities of features        and the improvement possibility predicted by the prediction        processing satisfy a predetermined condition; and    -   a feature extraction processing of extracting features from the        object selected by the selection processing.

Supplementary Note 20

A program recording medium recording an information processing programfor causing a computer to execute:

-   -   a prediction processing of predicting, from objects detected and        tracked in an input video, qualities of features to be extracted        from the objects based on at least one of a resolution, an        amount of motion, or a posture and an orientation of the objects        or an environmental factor determined according to positions of        the objects and a degree of occlusion of the objects depending        on the positions of the objects;    -   a selection processing of selecting, from among the objects,        only objects or an object for which the qualities of features        predicted by the prediction processing satisfy a predetermined        condition; and    -   a feature extraction processing of extracting features from the        object selected by the selection processing.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

By using an information processing device of the present invention, evenin a case where it takes time to extract features of an object, it ispossible to perform object matching with high accuracy as a whole. Thus,it can be used for object tracking between cameras or the like in videosurveillance or the like.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   -   100 Information processing device    -   101 Prediction unit    -   102 Selection unit    -   103 Feature extraction unit    -   200 Information processing device    -   201 Video acquisition unit    -   202 Detection unit    -   203 Tracking unit    -   204 Positional relationship analysis unit    -   205 Quality prediction unit    -   206 Environmental factor storage unit    -   207 Selection unit    -   208 Feature extraction unit    -   210 Prediction unit    -   300 Information processing device    -   307 Selection unit    -   309 Variation prediction unit    -   310 Prediction unit    -   311 Variation index calculation unit    -   312 Extraction history storage unit    -   313 Tracking history storage unit    -   314 Object state change tendency storage unit    -   400 Information processing device    -   405 Quality prediction unit    -   410 Prediction unit    -   500 Information processing device    -   504 Object detection tendency analysis unit    -   505 Quality prediction unit    -   510 Prediction unit    -   600 Information processing device    -   610 Prediction unit    -   700 Information processing device    -   705 Quality prediction unit    -   710 Prediction unit    -   1000 Computer    -   1020 Bus    -   1040 Processor    -   1060 Memory    -   1080 Storage device    -   1100 Input-output interface    -   1120 Network interface    -   1300 Network    -   1500 Camera

1. An information processing device comprising: a memory storinginstructions; and a processor connected to the memory and configured toexecute the instructions to: acquire a video; detect an object from aframe included in the video; predict qualities of features extractedfrom the object based on a degree of occlusion of the object dependingon environmental factors and a position of the object; select the objectwhose qualities of the features satisfies a predetermined condition; andextract the features from the selected object.
 2. The informationprocessing device according to claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to execute the instructions to calculate a degree ofocclusion of the object for each part of the object.
 3. The informationprocessing device according to claim 2, wherein the processor isconfigured to execute the instructions to weight the degree of occlusionof the object according to the part of the object.
 4. The informationprocessing device according to claim 3, wherein the processor isconfigured to execute the instructions to increase the weight for thepart of the object whose influence of the matching accuracy is large. 5.The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein theprocessor is configured to execute the instructions to predict thequalities of features to be extracted from the object based on a degreeto which the object is hidden by another object.
 6. The informationprocessing device according to claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to execute the instructions to predict the qualities offeatures to be extracted from the object based on at least one of aresolution, an amount of motion, or a posture and an orientation of theobject or an environmental factor determined according to a position ofthe object.
 7. The information processing device according to claim 1,wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions topredict the qualities of features to be extracted from the object basedon an index indicating how much an environmental factor determinedaccording to a position of the object affects prediction of thequalities of features.
 8. The information processing device according toclaim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructionsto predict an improvement possibility that a variation of the featuresis improved by extracting the features from an object, and select anobject for which the predicted improvement possibility further satisfiesa predetermined condition.
 9. The information processing deviceaccording to claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to execute theinstructions to predict the improvement possibility in such a way thatthe improvement possibility increases as an elapsed time from previousfeature extraction is larger.
 10. The information processing deviceaccording to claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to execute theinstructions to predict the improvement possibility in such a way thatthe improvement possibility increases as a number of times of extractionof the features so far is smaller.
 11. The information processing deviceaccording to claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to execute theinstructions to predict the improvement possibility in such a way thatthe improvement possibility increases as a movement amount of an objectis larger.
 12. The information processing device according to claim 8,wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions topredict the improvement possibility further based on a categorydetermined according to a state of an object.
 13. The informationprocessing device according to claim 8, wherein the processor isconfigured to execute the instructions to predict the improvementpossibility further based on a tendency of a state change of an objectdetermined according to a position of the object.